THE ICE PALACE

Little Anna, who lives in a hot, dry land, has a terrible fever. Every night she lies in bed and dreams about the stories her father tells her about a land of ice, with ice ships and frozen lakes, after he returns from his work in the kitchen palace. Still, the cool winds don't come and Anna's condition worsens. She imagines herself in the icy place as for three days she is held in the grip of the fever. Finally the fever breaks, and Anna opens her eyes to see the ice ship she had dreamed of in her room: Her father had sculpted it for her while she was ill. Together, father and daughter bring the little ship to the ice house where it will remain forever standing on its frozen sea. McAllister's (The Battle of Sir Cob and Sir Filbert, 1992, etc.) tale is a good excuse for Barrett's magnificent illustrations that draw a perfect contrast between Anna's hot, dry home and the shimmering coldness of her imagined land. Stalactites and stalagmites glitter, Anna lies luxuriously beside a polar bear, the ice ship glows. A beautifully decorated story. (Fiction/Picture book. 4-8)